Critique: Children of Blood and Bone 3/3 (Tomi Adeyemi)

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Zelie

My goodness, Zelie’s character is massive. She is a diviner and, once she touches the scroll, she is a Reaper maji, having control over death.

The author allows the reader to live through Zelie’s experiences often. Like when her father almost drowns, the reader feels everything Zelie feels. It’s more heart-wrenching than I expected from a book.

I don’t know who to hate more: the drunkard who pawed at Zelie or the sober guard that let it happen. Zelie’s angry but not furious. For abuse of power to become so regular that even Zelie’s anger is toned down by expectation shows something needs to change.

Zelie pushes her guilt and blame onto others.

She’s not the cause of all the problems (even though the book tries to frame it that way) but she does exacerbate the situations once in them. But no one blames her for these exacerbations even though they’re the only bad events that she causes. It’s a bit bizarre unless you realise that people always keen to blame someone. Zelie is this story’s scapegoat. It’s hard to shoulder your own guilt and blame, let alone that which doesn’t belong to you.

The only thing that I can attribute blame to is in the beginning when she almost gets everyone killed after annoying the guards. She, expecting Mama Agba to punish her, is instead handed a cuppa and she asks if it was poisoned. There was no fear or anxiety, just resignation. This scene gave me a good chuckle, something often repeated throughout.

She feels guilt for when her village went up in flames (after promising not to mess anything else up). But she saved someone. The guards torched the place because they want Amari and the scroll. These aren’t Zelie’s consequences but they burn her heart nonetheless. It’s so bad that she just wants to die. None of her actions are suicidal but she does wish for death more often than usual.

 

After being tortured, Zelie can’t use magic. (Aside from blood magic so that’s interesting. No explanation as of yet.) She touches the sunstone but that doesn’t work. Yet no one thinks to make her touch the scroll which is what opened up her magic in the first place (the sunstone had nothing to do with it.) So this whole episode was a bit baffling. Maybe the answers will come later in the series?

 

Zelie and Amari

Amari receives the brunt of Zelie’s rage against the monarchy.

Zelie’s mad because diviners are discriminated for no reason other than the family they were born into. And she’s mad at Amari… for the family she was born into. Blaming someone for their parents’ actions is beyond stupid, especially when that child is working to undo said actions.

Tzain keeps on defending Amari but Zelie is having none of it. Tzain said she’s done nothing wrong and Zelie counters she’s done nothing right. (Other than helping bring magic back?)

Tzain also says Amari was a child during the Raid so there was nothing she could do. Zelie says that Amari ‘got to kiss her mother that night’. The fact that the queen doesn’t like Amari enough to do that is just an extra kick in the teeth. A parent that cares dying is a bigger loss than a parent that doesn’t.

 

Amari is fascinated with the people, their lives and their environments, simply transfixed by everything… peasenty.

Zelie makes the comment ‘How strange that she was born to rule a kingdom she’s never seen.’ No, her brother Inan the crown prince was born to rule because he was born first.

But then later Amari decides she should be the next ruler of Orisha. However, Zelie shows no prophetic abilities and every other time she uses or is near magic, she feels it, meaning that for that statement to be a vision we would have read about the sensation of magic.

 

Zelie’s terrible opinion of Amari is eventually shattered.

            At first, Amari struggles to sell the headdress Binta gave her. She risks death and wants to save the diviners but won’t give up some clothing. Zelie is furious but once she remembers her own similar experience, Amari sells the headdress. This makes Amari no longer a burden and shows Zelie that the princess is fully committed to the cause.

Zelie sees the scars on Amari’s back. She realises that even the nobility aren’t safe from the king. It’s from this moment on that the trio begin working as a team, rather than Tzain being the only thing keeping the girls together. Zelie also gets back scars thanks to King Saran’s actions, creating a nice parallel. (Just a side note: Amari is a princess. She’s part of royalty, not nobility. Yes royals often marry nobles but their functions and powers are completely different.)

 

 

Zelie and Inan

Zelie and Inan have a magical connection, allowing them to share a dreamscape. This creates a foundation to their relationship so that their first meeting is akin to two colleagues, not two enemies.

Zelie is shocked to see the white streak in Inan’s hair because Kodisan can’t develop magic. Yet Zelie just said magic is a gift from the gods. Surely gods can give their gifts to whomever they want?

Despite having continual arguments about magic, they kindle a romance. The author plays with Zelie’s hatred turning to love with images like a sword that doesn’t kill her but frees her.

Tzain disapproves of the romance, telling Zelie that if only their mum ‘”knew she died so that you could be the prince’s whore."’ Holy f*ck, Tzain. That’s harsh. I laughed with the shock of it.

 

Zelie and Inan have opposing views on magic’s place in the world. It’s the topic they both feel most strongly about, even if for Inan it’s to gain his father’s attention.

Inan wants magic to be oppressed/destroyed, not the diviners. Zelie argues that it’s one in the same, taking away something inseparable from diviner culture. Inan can only see it as an issue of power. Never mind that taking magic away gives you power over them.

Inan desperately wants to understand Zelie’s viewpoint but she came back with a dose of reality. The kingdom was built for the kodisan to love the kodisan. Kodisan don’t get cursed in the streets. With Inan not wanting others to know about his magic in fear of their reaction, he gets a glimpse into the life of a diviner.

 

Eventually, Zelie persuades Inan over to team magic. Almost instantly, Zelie accidentally hurts Tzain and views magic as dangerous. Inan brings Zelie back to pro-magic and then Inan becomes anti-magic again. So every time someone changes another’s mind, their own mind switches sides. It’s an immediate flip-flop each time which was annoying. A little variation in time would have made it appear more natural.

 

 

Conclusion

This novel captivated me from its beginning and didn’t lose its allure all the way to the end.

It’s refreshing to read a novel through perspectives I can’t ever live through (a black woman) and an issue I can’t ever experience (colourism, because white people often prefer a tan. Somehow that’s good but being born darker is a problem? Don’t really understand that one).

This novel never felt preachy, even though it had every right to be, which will make it more accessible to. The plot, setting and characters are beautiful and consistent so Adeyemi is a fantastic writer. I look forward to book two!